Toronto stocks ended lower Thursday as oil prices slid and after U.S. markets dipped after President Donald Trump cancelled a planned summit with North Korea’s Kim Jong Un and ordered a probe of auto imports, while gains in Netflix pushed its market value to a record.
The auto probe, ordered on Wednesday, added to worries of another potential trade conflict when tensions with China simmered.
Early Thursday, Trump cancelled the June 12 meeting citing Pyongyang’s “open hostility,” even after North Korea followed through on a pledge to blow up tunnels at its nuclear test site.
Market participants said the sharp drop after the summit was cancelled was a knee-jerk reaction.
“People were genuinely pleased that it was going to happen,” said Peter Tuz, president of Chase Investment Counsel in Charlottesville, Virginia.
“And I still wouldn’t be surprised to see a reversal of this reversal sometime in the next few weeks as each side sits down and thinks about what’s really in its best interest.”
The Toronto Stock Exchange’s S&P/TSX fell 20.18 points, or 0.13 percent, to 16,113.62.
The biggest contributor to the TSX loss was Royal Bank of Canada, weighing by 20.84 index points. Energy was the top sector drag, weighing by 25.62 points.
Leading the index were New Gold Inc, up 5.5 percent, West Fraser Timber Co Ltd, up 5.3 percent, and Alamos Gold Inc, higher by 5.1 percent.
Lagging shares were Aecon Group Inc, down 15.4 percent, Ivanhoe Mines Ltd, down 6.9 percent, and Canopy Growth Corp, lower by 6.2 percent.
On the TSX 117 issues advanced and 127 declined as a 0.9-to-1 ratio favored decliners. There were 15 new highs and 1 new lows, with total volume of 198.7 million shares.
The most heavily traded shares by volume were Canopy Growth Corp, Aecon Group Inc and Aurora Cannabis Inc .
West Texas Intermediate crude futures fell 1.66 percent, or $1.19, to $70.65 a barrel. Brent crude fell 1.32 percent, or $1.05, to $78.75
The TSX is off 0.6 percent for the year.
In the U.S., a decline in energy shares following lower oil prices also weighed on the market, though some of the weakness was offset by Netflix.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 75.05 points, or 0.3 percent, to 24,811.76, the S&P 500 lost 5.53 points, or 0.20 percent, to 2,727.76 and the Nasdaq Composite dropped 1.53 points, or 0.02 percent, to 7,424.43.
The S&P energy index was down 1.7 per cent.
Netflix’s stock market value ballooned to a record $153 billion and eclipsed Walt Disney Co. for the first time, making it the world’s most valuable entertainment company. Netflix shares were up 1.3 per cent, helping the Nasdaq and S&P 500.
Earlier in the session the blue chip Dow touched a two-week low.
Defense stocks jumped after Trump called off the North Korea meeting and warned that the U.S. military was ready in the event of any “reckless” acts by North Korea.
Ford and General Motors gained on the possibility of tariffs on European and Asian car imports. U.S.-listed shares of Fiat fell 1 per cent.
With files from Reuters